Intel drivers 2.8.1 and 2.9.0 now on the repository.

[voria]

There are two new 'xserver-xorg-video-intel' packages available on the repository, based on official release 2.8.1 and 2.9.0. Most of you know that these drivers completely drop support for the EXA acceleration in favour of UXA, and this brings both advantages and disavantages.

After some tests these new drivers seem to be more stable than the version installed automatically (2.7.1), also they fix some annoying bugs (the most important, the one causing the image to freeze on an external monitor after some time).

To install the 2.8.1 version, use this command:

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sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel-2.8

For version 2.9.0, use this one:

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sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel-2.9

If for any reason you need to restore the previous version (2.7.1), you can use this command:

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sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-all

If you have any thought or problem with these new drivers, feel free to post it here.

[xxbasstixx]

Its running fine here. Just compiz is not workin, but didn't check if it worked with the older driver.

[voria]

Compiz works good for me with driver 2.8.0 as well as with the 2.7.1 version.
Are you using a custom xorg.conf? If so, try removing it.

[xxbasstixx]

here it goes

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Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Card0"
	SubSection "Display"
		Virtual	2160 768
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier "Card0"
	Driver "intel"
	VendorName "Intel Corporation"
	BoardName "Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller"
	BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

So nothin special

[voria]

The problem is with

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SubSection "Display"
    Virtual    2160 768
EndSubSection

At the moment the max virtual resolution which works without problems is 2048x2048, but yours is greater.
Removing that lines from your xorg.conf will default to 2048x2048, and you should have the DRI support back.

[xxbasstixx]

Nope doesn't work for me. Here is my console output from 'compiz'

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Checking for Xgl: not present. 
xset q doesn't reveal the location of the log file. Using fallback /var/log/Xorg.0.log 
Detected PCI ID for VGA: 
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: not present. 
Trying again with indirect rendering:
Checking for texture_from_pixmap: present. 
Checking for non power of two support: present. 
Checking for Composite extension: present. 
Checking screen 1Comparing resolution (1024x600) to maximum 3D texture size (2048): Passed.
Checking for Software Rasterizer: present. 
Software rasterizer detected, abortingaborting and using fallback: /usr/bin/metacity 

[voria]

Did you restart the xserver with the new conf file?

[xxbasstixx]

Did you restart the xserver with the new conf file?

lol, sometimes its the right guess, but this time i turned my head on
Of course i did a restart^^

Maybe some other outputs are helpful to find the problem?

btw: It's a N110, not NC10 is it makes a difference.

[voria]

I don't know where is the problem then, the fact it's a N110 shouldn't make any difference.
Please retry removing your xorg.conf completely (backup it, just in case).

So, anyone else has tried the new driver? Please share your thoughts.

[hsasshofer]

I installed the driver yesterday, and as I'm on holiday I just used it for receiving and sending a few mails and browsing the net (with a little Flash content). So far it is stable and did not show any instabilities.

UNR does "feel" a bit slower than 2.7.1 with EXA (I'm not using compiz on the netbook), but so did 2.7.1 when configured for UXA. I'm using an "empty" xorg.conf (well, not completely, a "skeleton version" as created by "sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg"). But then, at some stage, we all will have to make the switch.

Should anything bad happen, I will post...

[voria]

Thanks
Just a note: are you using kernel 2.6.28 or 2.6.31?
I've just noticed that using this new driver with kernel 2.6.28 results in bad performances, but it works great with kernel 2.6.31.

[hsasshofer]

Thanks
Just a note: are you using kernel 2.6.28 or 2.6.31?
I've just noticed that using this new driver with kernel 2.6.28 results in bad performances, but it works great with kernel 2.6.31.

The kernel is fully updated to 2.6.31-5. Basically I'm using your PPA and just added your Intel 2.8.0 DEB. It's not that it is "slow", it just seems to be a little bit off the 2.7.1's performance - but it may be just my impression, I should check with GtkPerf or whatever. But then, holidays are for the family rather than for the netbook ;-)

[xxbasstixx]

Got it workin now perfectly.

1. Reverted to Intel Driver v2.4 - Compiz works
2. changed window decorator in Compiz Configuration Manager to gtk-window-decorator
3. Installed v2.8 from your ppa - Compiz finally workin.

[voria]

It's not that it is "slow", it just seems to be a little bit off the 2.7.1's performance - but it may be just my impression, I should check with GtkPerf or whatever.

I have had exactly the same impressions, but IMO the performances are now more or less comparable with the 2.7.1 driver, and they can only get better. However this is true only when the new driver is used with a recent kernel; with official kernels from jaunty (2.6.28), the performances are terrible... and this is stopping me from adding the new driver on the NC10 repository.

Anyway, as you said

holidays are for the family rather than for the netbook ;-)

so the solution to this "problem" can wait.

[hsasshofer]

Hmm, I checked the differences in performance between 2.7.1 (EXA) and 2.8.0 (UXA) with GtkPerf (500 runs) on kernel 2.6.31-5. They are some kind of a mixed blessing :s



Overall the perfomance ist about the same (differences up to 10% are neglicible, and will also occur on multiple test runs) but there are dramatic changes in drawing shapes (loss of performance) and drawing(!) text (gain). So depending on the GTK operation concerned, the driver can appear faster or slower.